Construction Technology Program First in State

Puget Sound Skills Center (PSSC) unveiled a new Building and Construction Trades curriculum at an event hosted with the Building Trades Leadership. The pilot program, dubbed “multi-craft core curriculum,” has been a joint project, under development over the last 18 months, between PSSC’s Construction Technology Instructor Ken Pierson and the Seattle Pipe Trades, Local 32, and sanctioned by the Building and Construction Trades of the AFL-CIO. Instruction will take on a unique format with instructors from the Seattle Pipe Trades, Local 32, and PSSC staff.

On-hand for the kick-off were Sean McGarvey, Executive Director Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO from Washington, D.C., and Dave Johnson, Executive Secretary, Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council.

The new curriculum is a pre-apprenticeship program, and successful students will earn three college credits from the National Labor College and two national certifications; one in OSHA 10 and the other CPR-First Aid. PSSC’s Ken Pierson noted, “These national certifications make students imminently more employable upon graduation. They leave here with more tools in their toolboxes than other candidates competing for the same jobs.”

Students who successfully complete the full Construction Technology program at PSSC can earn 40 college credits for one year and up to 113 college credits for the two-year program.

This new, multi-craft core curriculum is the second teaming of Puget Sound Skills Center and the Seattle Pipe Trades. In 2008, PSSC introduced a welding program, with classes actually taught at the Local 32 facilities.

Interested students should contact the Skills Center at 206-631-7300 or pugetsoundsc.org

Puget Sound Skills Center, located at 18010 – 8th Avenue South in Burien, is a free, public high school serving students from Highline and Federal Way Public Schools, Fife, Tahoma, and Tukwila School Districts and is hosted by Highline Public Schools.